• Adam Keene, Lori Ashton, David Shure, Dorrie Napoleone, Chhavi Katyal, and Eran Bellin.
• Division of Critical Care Medicine, Montefiore Medical Center, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Bronx, NY, USA. akeene@montefiore.org
• Pediatr Crit Care Me. 2007 May 1;8(3):268-71.

ObjectiveA worrisome increase in mortality has been reported recently following the initiation of a computerized physician order entry (CPOE) system in a critically ill pediatric transport population. We tested the hypothesis that such a mortality increase did not occur after the initiation of CPOE in a pediatric population that was directly admitted to the neonatal and pediatric intensive care units at Montefiore Medical Center during two 6-month periods before CPOE and one 6-month period immediately after CPOE was initiated. Mortality in the pre- and post-CPOE time periods was compared, and adjustment for potentially confounding covariates was performed.SettingThe pediatric and neonatal intensive care units at Montefiore Medical Center.PatientsAll patients admitted from the emergency room or operating room or as transfers from other institutions directly to the pediatric and neonatal intensive care units at Montefiore Medical Center.InterventionsNone.Measurements And Main ResultsOverall, 29 (3.16%) of the 917 patients in the pre-CPOE period and nine (2.41%) of the 374 patients in the post-CPOE period died during their hospital stay (p = .466). The power to detect the hypothesized mortality increase was 81.7%. The variables that remained significant risk factors for mortality after adjustment were shock (odds ratio, 9.41; 95% confidence interval, 2.90-30.49), prematurity (odds ratio, 3.57; 95% confidence interval, 1.74-7.30), male gender (odds ratio, 3.31; 95% confidence interval, 1.47-7.69), or a hematologic/oncologic diagnosis (odds ratio, 3.14; 95% confidence interval, 1.44-6.86). Post-CPOE initiation status remained unassociated with mortality after adjusting for all covariates (odds ratio, 0.71; 95% confidence interval, 0.32-1.57).ConclusionMortality did not increase during CPOE initiation.

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